Democracy on the move? Bogotá’s urban transport strategies and the access to the city

Abstract

Everyday urban mobility is fundamental to access the opportunities offered by cities, something required to accomplish one’s own aims and guarantee participation in social life. Nonetheless, it is difficult to guarantee significant individual opportunities by fighting mobility-related social exclusion, especially in Global South cities characterized by scarce provision of mobility services and wide presence of urban poverty. The city of Bogotá has addressed the issues of mobility-related social exclusion by creating a large bus rapid transit system, called TransMilenio. Introduced in 2000, the public transport network was intended to provide a wider access to urban opportunities to a wider share of the urban population. The TransMilenio has been an influential example due to its ability in addressing the messed mobility of a typical Global South metropolis and in promoting an intervention that requires less financial resources in comparison to other, traditional infrastructures. However, its results appear as partial when discussing the contribution of TransMilenio to urban access, as well as the economic and political implications of implementing such system. While relevant is the alternative form of intervention promoted by TransMilenio, as well as its courage in addressing the apparently untamable mobility of a metropolis like Bogotá, similar strategies in the future should pay more attention to the issues of access—intended both as the possibility to make use of this public transport system, both in terms of reaching urban opportunities.

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